The present invention is described initially in the context of telecommunications applications but, as described below, may also be used to verify proper wiring of connectors in other applications. In the context of telecommunications, it is frequently desirable to verify proper wiring of connectors in a connector assembly. Examples of widely accepted connector assemblies are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,957,335 to Troy, U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,845 to Ayer et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,680 to Suffi. A connector assembly typically comprises an electrically-insulative mounting block in which a plurality of electrically-conductive connectors are held in a standard predetermined spacial relationship. One-known example is a type-66 connector assembly.
The connectors may be used as connecting points, splice points or cross-connect points of a telecommunications network. In telecommunications applications, such connector assemblies are commonly mounted on a panel in a building entrance protector ("BEP") utility box which is in turn mounted in a building. The BEP serves as an interface between the telephone company's lines and the telephone service subscriber's lines.
During a typical installation of telecommunications service wiring in a building, a telecommunications wire bundle from a telephone company is brought into a splice chamber within a BEP. In the splice chamber, the wires are unbundled and electrically coupled to a surge protector field within the BEP. Wires leading from the surge protector are electrically coupled to the first ends of the connectors in a connector assembly. In telecommunications applications, the connectors are wired in pairs, each pair servicing one subscriber's telephone line. One of the pair is known in the art as the "tip" and the other is known as the "ring", the ring connector being connected to an electrical power source and the tip being used to carry a subscriber's voice signal back to the telephone company.
Wires leading from the building's telephone wiring infrastructure may then be electrically coupled to the second ends of the appropriate tip and ring connectors in the connector assembly to connect the individual subscriber's telephone lines with telephone company's telephone lines in the wire bundle.
The connector assembly has applicability in other applications such as in alarm systems in which a multiplicity of electrical conductors are to be electrically coupled.
Such connector assemblies are typically wired by forming either wire-wrap, insulation displacement connector ("IDC") or printed wiring board ("PWB") connections on a terminal portion of the connectors. Such connections are typically formed on terminals having either a wire-tail, IDC or pin terminal configuration, respectively. The formation of such connections is well-known in the art. Accordingly, the individual electrical connectors of the connector assembly may be constructed in a variety of terminal shapes, depending upon the connection method to be used. In telecommunications applications, connectors having a wire-tail terminal configuration and an IDC terminal configuration are common. However, in other applications, connectors having pin terminal configurations are used.
Before connecting the subscriber's telephone lines to the connectors in the connector assembly, the wiring of the connectors to the telephone company is tested to verify proper wiring. This was heretofore performed by a telephone company technician who caused the telephone company to energize the wires leading into the BEP. Using a test buzzer, the technician tested the pair of tip and ring connectors associated with each telephone line individually.
To test a particular telephone line, the technician contacted a pair of test probes leading from the test buzzer with the terminals on the second ends of the pair of connectors associated with that particular telephone line. If the connectors were properly wired, an audible buzz was discerned. Since each connector assembly typically serviced at least 50 to 100 telephone lines, each connector assembly typically included at least 50 to 100 pairs of connectors. Since a technician has heretofore been able to test only a single pair of connectors at any one time, this was a tedious and time-consuming portion of the installation process.